Years ago, there was a very wealthy man
• Who, along with his devoted son, shared a passion for art collecting.
• Together they traveled around the world, adding only the finest art treasures to their collection.
• Priceless works by Picasso, Van Gogh, Monet and many others adorned the walls of the family estate.
• The widowed father looked on with satisfaction as his only child became an experienced art collector.
• But the day came when war engulfed the nation, and the young man left to serve his country.
• After only a few short weeks, his father received a telegram that his beloved son had been killed while carrying a fellow soldier to a medic.
• On Christmas morning, a knock came at the door of the old man’s home, and as He opened the door, He was greeted by a soldier with a large package in his hand.
• He introduced himself to the man by saying, “I was a friend of your son. I was the one He was rescuing when He died.
• May I come in for a few moments? I have something to show you.”
• The soldier said “I’m an artist, and I want to give this to you.”
• As the old man unwrapped the package, the paper gave way to reveal a portrait of his son.
• Though the art critics would never consider the work a piece of genius,
• The painting did feature the young man’s face in striking detail,
• and seemed to capture his personality.
• The following spring, the old man became ill and passed away.
• The art world was filled with anticipation!
• Because according to the man’s will, all of the art works were to be auctioned.
• The day soon arrived, and art collectors from around the world gathered to bid on some of the world’s most spectacular paintings.
• The auction began with a painting that was not on any museum’s list.
• It was the painting of the man’s son.
• The auctioneer asked for an opening bid. The room was silent. “Who will open the bidding with $100?” He asked. Minutes passed with not a sound from those who came to buy.
• From the back of the room someone called out, “Who cares about that painting? It’s just a picture of his son. Let’s forget it and get to the important paintings.”
• Other voices echoed in agreement.
But the auctioneer replied, “No, we have to sell this one first.
• Now, who will take the son?”
• Finally, a friend of the old man spoke. “I knew the boy, so I’d like to have it.
• I’ll bid the $100.”
• The Auctioneer said “I have a bid for $100,”
• “Will anyone go any higher?”
• After a long silence, the auctioneer said, “Going once. Going twice. Gone.”
And The gavel fell.
• Cheers filled the room and someone said, “Now we can get on with it!”
• But the auctioneer looked at the audience and announced the auction was over.
• Stunned disbelief quieted the room.
• After a few moments Someone spoke up and asked,
• “What do you mean it’s over?
• We didn’t come Here for a picture of some old guy’s son.
• What about all the paintings?
• There’s millions of dollars worth of art Here!
• We demand that you explain what’s going on!”
• The auctioneer replied, “It’s very simple.
• According to the will of the father, whoever takes the son... gets it all.”
This week marks the beginning of the Advent season
• The word Advent means, "the coming of the Saviour"
• It’s a holy season for Christians
• It’s a period of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Birth of Christ,
• This is the season that we know as Christmas.
Traditionally The First Sunday of Advent is associated with Hope
• And the story that I just shared with you is in essence the story of Christmas:
• Whoever takes the Son gets it all.
• Hope is the assurance of something yet to come,
• Something to look forward to
• The Bible puts it like this:
God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 He who has the Son has life; He who doesn’t have the Son of God doesn’t have life.
This is the source of our Hope
• The one who has the Son has it all.
• But what exactly is included in the word “all”?
The first thing that Advent promises is a new life in Christ
• This means we now know what God is like.
• When Christ came He gave us a living picture of who God is.
• Christ’s coming put a face on God.
The Bible says, 15Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.
He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,
16 for through him God created everything in the Heavenly realms and on earth.
He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see such as thrones, kingdoms,
rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for
him.
This is what we mean by the incarnation
• God came to earth wrapped in a human body.
• The God of Heaven came to live among us
• So that we could know what He’s really like.
He came to teach us.
• He came to die for us so that we could be forgiven.
• He rose from the dead to Help us know that we too will be raised.
• He promised that He would return so that eternal hope would burn in our Hearts.
• He opened the doors of Heaven.
I want you to Imagine for a minute what the world would be like if God,
• In the form of Jesus Christ, had never come to earth.
• Harvard and Yale wouldn’t exist,
• Because they were started as Christian institutions of higher learning.
• The founders of these schools believed that to study “science” was to study the work of God.
• It was a way of learning more about what He was like.
• Many hospitals wouldn’t exist, because they were founded by people who had Hearts full of compassion for those who were ill,
• This was a result of their personal experience with Jesus Christ and being transformed by His love.
• The way we date history would be completely different, since all of history is divided into the things which occurred before Christ
• And the things that occurred after Christ.
• There wouldn’t be churches on every corner.
• There wouldn’t be Y.M.C.A.
• We would have half a Bible.
• We wouldn’t have Heard about the love of a personal God.
• God would never have visited the world
• And we wouldn’t have the hope of his returning.
• There would be no Christmas — no gifts symbolic of God’s greatest gift.
• There would be no Christmas carols or hymns.
• The world without Jesus would be like winter without Christmas.
Without Jesus,
• Mary Magdalene would have died in Her sin.
• Matthew would still have been a traitor to his countrymen.
• The Roman soldier would have continued his cruelty.
• Peter, James and John would have done nothing more with their lives than fish for a living.
• The Apostle Paul would never have been more than a cruel Pharisee steeped in legalism with an unrelenting demand for perfection from other people.
• The people who needed Healing, during the time that Christ would have lived, would still have been broken in body and spirit.
• The lame would still be lame;
• The blind would have remained in their darkness;
• The deaf would have still lived in silence.
Without Jesus We would never have Heard the words:
(John 14:27) “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and Heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.
(John 15:11) I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!
(John 10:10) The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.
This is why we sing about Emmanuel at Christmas
• God is with us.
• He was with us 2000 years ago,
• And He is with us now in this present moment to show us what God is like.
• We have a God who cared enough to come.
• He showed us what He was like and his name was love.
• He was the friend of sinners and failures.
• He showed love and compassion to the outcasts of the world.
• He healed the sick and raised the dead.
He taught us not to use the values of this world to determine our worth,
(Matthew 20:16). 16 “So those who are last now will be first then, and those who are first will be last.”
• He taught us that our value to God are more important than what anyone else thinks about us.
Some of you may have seen “The Antique Road Show”.
• Someone who has paid only a few dollars for an item at a garage sale
• Or found something in their attic
• Comes to find out how much its worth.
• Then We see looks of surprise and shock
• When the person learns the item is worth several thousand dollars.
When I see this happen,
• I think about how God takes people
• Who aren’t seen as very valuable by the world
• And He places a very high value on them,
• Because that is the kind of person, He is.
And How do I know this?
• It’s Because we see it in the life of Jesus over and over again.
• The outcasts of society seemed to be His specialty.
• The sinful, the sick, the poor, the weak
• These were the people He pulled out of the trash and transformed into a treasure.
• If Jesus hadn’t come we would never have known that about God.
And because Christ showed us what God was like, we want to be like him.
• We have been transformed by His grace and renewed by His love.
• We can extend grace to others because it has been so extended to us.
• We can forgive because we have been forgiven.
• We can give because He gave to us.
• We can live because He has given us eternal life.
• Because Jesus came, we know what God is like — He’s living love.
Secondly, Advent promises new life because: It means our sins can be forgiven.
• Think for a moment of the worst thing you have ever done
• The thing that makes your brain burn with shame.
• And then think of what it would be like if Jesus hadn’t come and you couldn’t be forgiven for that sin.
• What would that be like?
• Your guilt would never be relieved,
• Your punishment would always be hanging over your Head.
• But since Jesus came, forgiveness has come to those of us who have received the grace that Christ came to offer.
• We know the freedom that forgiveness brings.
• And because of that we can forgive others and ourselves
• And the reason for this is we have experienced the liberating forgiveness that Jesus Christ came to give us.
But if Jesus had never come,
• We would have only commandments to follow,
• And we would never Hear the great words of the New Testament:
16 “For God loved the world so much that He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. (John 3:16_17).
If Jesus hadn’t come We would be missing a Savior.
• There would be no talk of forgiveness and reconciliation to God,
• Only laws to be obeyed.
• Grace would not be a word in our vocabulary.
• We would talk about justice, and people getting what they deserved,
• rather than finding mercy with God.
The Bible tells us, See how very much our Father loves us, for He calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know him. (1 John 3:1).
• We’re children of God because we have been forgiven through the grace Jesus Christ made possible by his atoning death.
• It is as simple, and as difficult, as humbling ourselves and asking for the forgiveness that He offers.
• But this is more than forgiveness, it brings about a transformation in our lives.
The Bible says, 18 So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image. (2 Corinthians 3:18).
• Christ came not just to clean our Hearts, but to change our Hearts.
• We are being transformed into his character more and more everyday.
• Because we live with him, we are becoming like him.
• His Holy Spirit is working in us to produce his image.
All of this is for one grand purpose, which leads to the third and final point
• Advent promises a new life in Christ, because:
• It means we have the hope of Heaven. Heaven was made possible by Jesus.
• As the hymn says, “Christ has opened Paradise, Alleluia!”
• Think about what the world would feel like if there was no hope of Heaven.
• What would you say at the funeral of a loved one if Jesus hadn’t come?
• There would be no hope beyond the grave.
• You couldn’t talk about Heaven, or any reason to hope for eternal life with God
• Because once your dead, you’d be dead - Nothing more nothing less
The Bible tells us, 19 If our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world. (1 Corinthians 15:19).
If Jesus Christ hadn’t come, there would be no book of Revelation;
• No hope of a returning Savior who would overcome the world and open Heaven for us.
• There would be no hope of Hearing the words:
(Matthew 25:21). ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!
• There wouldn’t be any hope of a resurrection.
• There wouldn’t be eternal life.
• Nothing to anticipate, except the closing of the casket lid
• And the coldness of the grave.
• But because Jesus came, all that has changed.
• We live in joyful anticipation of what is yet to come.
• We have been given Hope
In his book Dare to Believe,
• Dan Baumann illustrates what it is like to know that something is yours even though you have to wait for it.
• You can even have it,
• But you’re not able to take it “out of the box.”
He says that when I was young I always did a lot of snooping at Christmas time,
• Trying to find my gifts and figure out what was wrapped inside the packages that my Mom had hid.
• He said One year I discovered a large package with my name on it
• And I knew it was a set of golf clubs.
• One shake of that box revealed the unmistakable sound of clubs.
• He says, “When Mom wasn’t around, I would go and feel the package, shake it, and pretend that I was on the golf course.
• The point is, I was already enjoying the pleasures of a future event; namely, the [unwrapping].
• It had my name on it. I knew what it was.”
• It was mine, but it I couldn’t have it till Christmas morning.
• Then I would see with my eyes what before I had only seen with my Heart.
Christmas means that Christ has given us the gift of Heaven.
• At this point it is still wrapped.
• But the package has our name on it.
• We know what awaits us. And It’s ours.
• We never would have received the gift if it weren’t for Christmas.
• We wait longingly for the day when we will enjoy the gift of Heaven
• In all of its unwrapped wonder.
(2 Peter 3:13) 13 But we are looking forward to the new Heavens and new earth that He has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness.
• The day will come when we too will Hear the words,
3 I Heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them.* 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” (Revelation 21:3_4).
Because Jesus came, we know what God is like.
• We experience forgiveness for our sins
• And the transformation of our Hearts and our minds.
• We have received the promise of Heaven and eternal life.
• What better gifts could we ask for?
